Lurra Cocina

We showed up at 6:30 p.m. today (6÷19÷16) for our reservation that was confirmed three days ago via phone and a few hours ago via text, only to find the restaurant locked up and a sign posted in the door that the restaurant is closed for renovations. When looking through the window, it appears the tables are set and everything is in place for a service. We scrambled and found another location for our group, but are disappointed at the lack of contact letting us know about the closure, as they had our phone number.

Loved it! Service was great, the dishes were the perfect size to share (2/​person) and no corkage fee except for the weekend!

Lurra Cocina is a great place! The food is excellent with appropriate-​sized portions for fine dining and beautiful presentation. This was our third visit to Lurra Cocina, the first one for lunch, the second an unsuccessful lunch attempt — they were just shutting down the lunch period, and this one for dinner. The lunch and dinner menus are very different with only a few crossovers from one to the other. Our server was attentive, but not intrusive, and kept the pace of the arrival of our various ordered items even, but not rushed. We specifically came for paella, but lingered over ordering other menu items before sticking to our original plans. The paella tradicional was different from paella I’ve eaten in various places in Spain/​Catalunia and Mexico, but still an excellent rendering of the dish. The paella con arroz negro sounded intriguing, but we decided to leave that for another visit which we will definitely make. The croquettes were outstanding, and our server, Joe, brought us a sample of the banderillas —
skewered anchovies wrapped olives with Piquillo peppers and pickles that we toyed with ordering and then reluctantly moved on to other menu items. I am not a fan of anchovies, but the banderillas were sublimely satisfying. Our dessert consisted of the Manchego Cheesecake a Spanish-​styled cheesecake served with figs in a honey sauce. It was light, and the figs in honey sauce made it a unique flavor treat. There were downsides to this dinner experience. The first came in the form of an inability to control the intense sunlight streaming into the building and dining area by having decorative window shades that did not actually operate and therefore did not provide any shade or relief for diners — very uncomfortable and annoying. The second was a large group party that was extremely noisy, rowdy and disruptive showing no courtesy to or concern for other diners in the establishment. Those two downsides kept this visit to Lurra Cocina from being a five-​star dining experience.

Came for happy hour which is what I suggest you do to try everything for really cheap. The gin and homemade tonic was just okay! The Mashed Potato Crocettes are the bomb! Must try the meatballs. All of the tapas are under $ 6 for happy hour. Drink selection is also great for HH. I’ve heard mixed reviews of this place and they are all right on– nothing special but still good.

Great restaurant. Relaxing atmosphere. Wonderful service and willing to make honest recommendations. I would certainly home back again! Also the croquettes and meatballs are out of this world amazing blend of flavor!

We LOVE tapas are were super excited to find a place to enjoy it in Des Moines. We are easily sold on a good meat and cheese plate so we started with that. The desciption was vauge but the price ($ 24) lead us to believe it would rival one simular to our favourites at Centro, Django or Sam and Gabes. It was not comparable. It was tiny and while it was pretty tasty I felt bamboozled by how small the portion was. (Small dinner plate). We ordered 3 tapas selections, the octopus, the croquettes and the shrimp. Sorry I dont recall the precise names from the menu. The octopus was grilled and was tender and well prepared but the plating was comfusing to my palate with pureed carrots, olive tapanade, tator tot-​like potatos and squid ink… it was just too much going on. The shrimp was in a tomato based sause that reminded me of ketchup with siracha. Not good and pricey for 6 shrimp. The winner were the croquettes. No complaints there and I could have eaten endless plates of those cheesey fried balls of potato cheese goodness. The server we had was nice and attentive and I felt like he genuinely cared about our happiness which was unfortunate because the food was pricey and just not up to par with the tapas we have had in larger cities. Will not return.

Good food, but not impressed. I expected better flavors from some of the dishes. They need to master their current recipes to really be a great restaurant.

Love the atmosphere, staff is great! It has a very modern feel which I like. The food, overall, was good. Somethings I loved and somethings were just okay. I ordered the paella traditional and I was satisfied with it, it didn’t blow my mind however. The marcona almonds were good, but I didn’t expect anything less since I do love them. Ordered the flan for dessert and it was very good. I don’t totally love it here (yet?) but will be back again. Excited to try more off of the menu and get a better feel for the place.

I had high expectations for this restaurant and this was my second visit. I will not return. On our first visit, it was shortly after it opened and things were a bit disjointed. Figured it was due to being newly opened. We recently visited again and it was much worse. The cocktails were good, but the food and service was below average to bad. The paella was some of the worst I have ever tried. It was not evenly cooked and frankly nothing like we had in Spain. Our waitress couldn’t even pronounce half of the dishes. All in all. A lot better places in town.

Tried this place for the first time. They have a very limited selection of draft beers but did have more in bottles. The menu was very vegetarian friendly which I appreciate but was a hard to read and determine what j wanted to eat. I ordered the flatbread which was good but not very filling. This is the type of place I would recommend going if your not very hungry or are very comfortable with the people you go with so you can order several items.

Happy Hour Gin & home made tonics were a hit! Try all three. They are refreshing and each unique in flavor. With the exception of the Happy Hour Menu, I felt several items were over priced or under sized. IE: Baked Goat Cheese, A vodka on the rocks was $ 7.50. Service was prompt and attentive. Would like to see lighting at each table. Many hard surfaces and high ceiling in the space make for a noisy atmosphere. We really wanted to LIKE this place — so we’ll try again.

As as Spanish Wine Specialist, I was very excited to see this restaurant and try their Midwest take on Spanish food. I went with a friend for their half off tapas and pintxos on Sunday. We wanted to try a little bit of everything and ordered the Marcona Almonds, Banderillas, Queso de Cabra, Croquetes, Pimientos Y Atun, an Octopus dish, Manchego Cheesecake, and Quince Apple Tart. Also, I was very excited to see my favorite local whiskey, Templeton Rye, in a cocktail called Tie Me Up, Tie Me down, mixed with Amontillado sherry. We loved everything! The patio atmosphere, service and food were wonderful. They captured all of the main flavors that Northern Spain has to offer for a fair price. I highly recommend this place for someone who loves Spanish food or is looking for something different in Iowa. I didn’t try any wine because I drink Spanish wine frequently. But, they have a fantastic Spanish wine list and I recommend the Txakolina on a warm day.

Lurra is great, the design is simple and elegant, the staff was super nice and the food (although we just had apps this time) was great!
Went to check out the happy hour last night, have a couple of brews and sit on the patio since it was so beautiful out!
The staff sat us right away told us we had about 20 minutes left in happy hour and took our beer and apps order!
It’s cool they have such a wide range of apps including a veggie medley which is a season mix of dried veggies almost like nuts. It was great, and went perfect with Beer! We also got some pickled veggies which usually I’m not a huge fan of but they were great as well! Both those apps were only a 1.50 for happy hour, they were not huge but for that price great for trying out or getting every time you are there!
Our baby started getting a little upset, so we decided to down our beers right away and take off, we said to our waitress, «Can we grab our check,» and she said, «Touché,» which we thought was a weird thing to say. And we both were like did she use that word correctly. Which made us look up the definition of Touché — used as an acknowledgment of a hit by one’s opponent.
used as an acknowledgment during a discussion of a good or clever point made at one’s expense by another person.
Maybe she meant is was a good point made that it was time to go since our baby was getting fussy, so it was at his expense… Either way our bill was not that expensive since we went at happy hour! 2 awesome craft brew, 2 apps only 10.65 now that is a price that make me HAPPY! We will be back for sure, cause the meals looked amazing too!

Food and service was sub par. The waitress was not at all attentive. Had she come by more frequently she could have sold us more drinks very easily. She screwed up our order and wasn’t at all very kind about it. We had several appetizers and all had entrees. No body at our table of experienced foodies was impressed with the flavors or presentation. What we did like — love — was the gin and tonics served in copper cups with homemade tonic. Excellent!
The décor is fine, but nothing unique or original. The lighting is so high over head that it’s actual dark at the tables. Between the lighting problems and the bad acoustics — the place has a color, warehouse feel that lacks personality.

Been trying to get out to this place for a couple months. Decided to hit it up Friday for happy hour and dinner. Gotta say, Lurra was well worth the wait. We had the pintxos, three tapas, and two sangrias. It was fantastic. (Get a red and white sangria to know what you’re missing.)
First let me say everything looked beautiful and the server was extremely well informed and helpful. Good service should be remembered and rewarded.
Second, let me say: GET THE PATÉ! Before our visit to Lurra I had only tried it once and was not a fan at all, but the chef at Lurra is on the ball. I will get paté every time we visit now.
If there was any room for improvement, I guess the goat cheese dip tapas could have used a little pop of flavor like rosemary or lemon rind. But other than that, I loved it and will be back soon!

I went there with a small group last Friday. We enjoyed several tapas and the sangria. The atmosphere was a very nice, industrial vibe. But I have to say the paella with calamari, shrimp and mussels was FANTASTIC. The rice had a nice crusty bottom served in the dish it was cooked in. It was toothy and seasoned perfectly. And the seafood was done very well. Topped off with the ink, it all melded into total comfort that I will certainly be back for. I thought the portion was good and reasonably priced. This restaurant is a great addition to the Des Moines food scene.

This is my favorite new restaurant downtown! Three of us shared six or seven tapas — and they were all fantastic. From the mashed potato croquettes to the warm goat cheese and even the charred carrots and flatbread — it was perfection! The flavor combinations and creative use of sauces, spices and flavors had me salivating for more. The food always looked great on the plate — the presentation was on point! Our server was fantastic — attentive, engaging and there for us when we needed a recommendation. The entire experience was exceptional — I’ll be back soon!

This place was amazing, food was exquisite and service was top notch. Can’t wait to try other choices on the menu.

What a great Tapas place!
Friends came in town from Nashville, and we really enjoyed our meal. There was quite a selection to chose from. Lot of vegetarian options honestly.
None of us got their entrees, so I can’t speak to that, but their Tapas portions were healthy. (read: 2 or 3 for 2 people)
Also got their Rojo Sangria and it was authentic, and full bodied. Didn’t taste watered down from too much fruit.
Would highly recommend this place.

Won tickets for opening night, along with 10 other couples. I had been dying to go ever since I heard it was opening downtown.
Reservations were for 8:30pm. We were not sat for another 45 minutes. There was a 6−9pm party for the public that probably interfered with our time. We had drinks at the bar while we waited. The cocktails were fantastic. My friend had a bourbon with carrot juice — strange but delicious. Their beer selection was also fantastic. Although bar was packed, the bar tenders were as attentive as they could be.
When we finally sat down we were handed a menu. The waiter didn’t really explain how things worked and so when we went to order that made things very confusing. We ordered pinxtos, tapas, and entrees to get the full vibe. With the contest win we were allotted a free tapa and free entrée per person (very nice offer).
The pinxtos and tapas were delicious. We had the mushrooms, gazpacho, dates, croquettes, and a flatbread. All were delicious. The problem was we didn’t get this until almost an hour after we were seated. The waiter apologized and said our ticket had been lost. However, since we were upstairs near the office where a staff/​friend party was being held we were able to see the endless flow of food into that room. Frustrating when you’ve been waiting 2 hours to dine.
Entrees were sub-​par for the price. I only ordered one because it was part of our deal. I had the hanger steak and my boyfriend had the hen. Pretty blah. I realize Spanish cooking is very dedicated to the original flavors of the food with minimal seasoning (salt/​pepper) but for what the menu price was I was shocked at the lack of quality.
We shared the cheesecake for dessert. It was delicious and unlike any cheesecake I’ve had before. Great flavor!
If you dine here I recommend the tapas and pinxtos only. I’d consider dining here again after they’ve been open for a while. Maybe our experience will be better in a few months. Sorry Lurra, I had high expectations.